Themes, symbols, and motifs come alive when you use a storyboard. In this activity, students will identify a theme of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and support it with evidence from the text.
Charlie Bucket lives in extreme poverty. Three examples of textual evidence for this theme are:
Three examples of textual evidence for this theme are greedy children being punished for not listening to Willie Wonka’s rules:
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Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that identifies themes in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Illustrate instances of each theme and write a short description below each cell.
Engage your class in a group discussion after reading a chapter. Ask open-ended questions about the characters’ choices and what lessons they might teach. This helps students connect the story’s events to its themes, making abstract ideas more relatable.
Encourage students to share stories from their own lives or community that relate to the book’s themes, such as fairness or kindness. Personal connections deepen understanding and make learning more meaningful.
Challenge students to hunt for additional examples of themes as they read. Have them mark passages with sticky notes or highlight digital text, then share findings with the class. This builds close reading skills and reinforces theme identification.
Assign a short story or diary entry from the perspective of a character. Ask students to show how the theme influences the character’s thoughts or actions. Creative writing helps students internalize and express their understanding of key ideas.
Showcase storyboards or theme posters around the classroom or share them digitally. This not only recognizes students’ efforts but also reinforces themes every day.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory explores key themes like poverty, the consequences of breaking rules, and the importance of kindness and honesty. These themes are illustrated through Charlie's humble background and the fates of children who don't follow Willy Wonka's rules.
Students can identify themes by looking for repeated ideas or messages in the story and supporting them with textual evidence. For example, noticing how Charlie's poverty affects his life, or how the other children's actions lead to consequences, helps reveal key themes.
Poverty is shown through Charlie's family living in a small, crowded house, sharing one bed, and Charlie receiving only one chocolate bar a year. His ultimate reward—a lifetime supply of food and a new home—highlights this theme.
To use a storyboard, have students pick a theme, illustrate scenes from the book that show this theme, and write short descriptions explaining the examples. This visual approach helps students connect evidence from the text to key messages.
Several children break Willy Wonka's rules: Augustus drinks from the chocolate river, Violet chews forbidden gum, and Veruca demands a squirrel. Each child faces consequences, reinforcing the theme that breaking rules leads to trouble.